


the end of the world (i feel fine)

by quietest_one



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-12
Updated: 2015-02-12
Packaged: 2018-03-12 01:48:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3339290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietest_one/pseuds/quietest_one
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>London. Kaidan and Garrus on the brink. A goodbye kiss. [cross-posted from tumblr]</p>
            </blockquote>





	the end of the world (i feel fine)

**Author's Note:**

> Kaidan/Garrus (implied Kaidan/Garrus/Shepard)
> 
> i wrote this for an otp challenge going around. the prompt was ‘last kiss’.

London. At least it’s not raining.

It’s possibly the least private place they could say their goodbyes. Shepard and the others are there at the edges of their vision; omnipresent Alliance personnel are making ready all around them. Kaidan’s biotic special ops squad are waiting for him, checking and re-checking each other’s amps, filled with nervous energy. Garrus will be joining Shepard on the beam run. This is the end.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Kaidan says quietly. They’re in a corner, trying desperately for some semblance of privacy.

“I’ll be with Shepard,” Garrus says, “who could probably walk out of a fist fight with Harbinger unscathed. Which would be stupid, but somehow Shepard lessens the odds. They didn’t call assaulting the Collector Base a suicide mission for no reason, after all.”

“You’re probably right. Still, take care. I’d like both of you to come back at the end of this.”

“You just want Shepard for the apartment.”

“And you for your body, it’s true.”

Garrus flares his mandibles a little. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Garrus leans in, breastplate clunking against Kaidan’s own armour. He rests his forehead against Kaidan, revelling in the familiar tingle as electric shocks spark from Kaidan’s biotically-charged skin. Kaidan takes a shuddery breath. Garrus has learned recently that this is a sound usually made by humans trying not to cry.

He’s still no good at kissing – not having lips tends to cause logistical issues where that’s concerned – but he presses his mouth against Kaidan’s anyway. Kaidan responds more forcefully, wrapping an arm around Garrus’s waist. They remain entwined for nearly a minute, long enough to get a wolf-whistle from a marine on the other side of the room, then they break apart.

It feels like a chasm has been ripped between them; a hideous, earth-shattering breach that might never be repaired. There are no possible words to make this better, so they say nothing, and go their separate ways.

As he walks away, Garrus is thinking about what James told him:  _may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead._  He’s pretty sure that Kaidan doesn’t believe in any of that. Looking up at the beam cutting through swirling clouds, he’s not sure he does anymore either.

 


End file.
